Neither company is talking publicly, and the Chronicle's source is choosing to remain anonymous, but it appears that Tesla and Apple may have been at least a little bit interested in working together well ahead of Ahmad's call. He wrote that buying Tesla would bring another Steve Jobs-like figure (Musk) to the computer giant as well as give the maker of iPhones and iPads another market to explore (remember the iCar idea?). The Chronicle does admit that there's no upside for Tesla that's quite as obvious, and one analyst said a partnership would make more sense than a buy out.

There could be other scenarios on the table, as well. Perhaps it was to discuss a joint giga-battery plant? Or maybe Musk's visit to Cupertino was just a courtesy call, in case Tesla ever needs access to Apple's famously deep pockets. We don't know, but the news does give us a slew of interesting possibilities to ponder. There's a lot more over in the Chronicle, including how Apple may be branching out into new medical devices.

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Adnaan Ahmad thinks Apple should buy Tesla, huh? Perhaps Mr. Ahmad can tell us how extending Apple's brand to automobiles improves their market position both from a sales and technology perspective. What will Apple do with Tesla when the automobile industry, EPA and consumers realize mass transportation leveraging electrical power adds more to environmental pollution than alternatives such as hydrogen? Is Tesla positioned to rapidly switch to greener solutions in the future? Adnaan Ahmad the Forrest Gump of financial advisors!

@ DawgByte "Is Tesla positioned to rapidly switch to greener solutions in the future? " I shouldn't think so since the EV powertrain is the most environmentally friendly of all foreseeable method of storing and using energy for passenger auto-mobiles. That statement hold true, even when the electricity is sourced from Coal or oil fired generators. HFCV's may prove move commercially viable, for non-environmental reasons (although that's doubtful), but EV will continue to improve and remain the most environmentally beneficial passenger transport. There are no 'greener' solutions than EV's in the future. ( I agree with you that Mr Ahmad is not an analyst I would choose for advice.)

Yes. Because using electricity to crack water into hydrogen only to burn it or make electricity in a fuel cell is far more efficient and cost effective than plain old lipo battery tech. Which is why we see super sexy fuel cell vehicles and electronics people use every day or lust after. Because obviously hydrogen is ready and awesome right now.

@ Commentotron There will be lots of different energy solutions in the future, for different applications. HFCV technology has the potential to be available for a much wider range of vehicles than current EV ESD's will allow. The idea is to persuade the world to abandon its dependence on oil-diesel, and be open minded enough to consider alternate technologies. Starting a schism among alternate technologies, is just counter-productive.

And where do you get your opinion that electrical power has magically becomes more polluting than other forms of energy? Please cite your sources. Since Tesla is only using a skateboard design then it's certainly possible that they can switch to some other ESD if it becomes necessary. As for fracking pollution you have this article from today: http://www.climatesciencewatch.org/2014/02/18/texas-officials-blind-eye-fracking-emissions/ I will let my more informed commenters respond as to how valid the point being made is.

@ Mr. Lion Why do you think that it's necessary to denigrate one genius, to celebrate another ? Just celebrate the good fortune that America has allowed, and encouraged two such men's idea's to flourish.

A merger is just a rumor. It was really about system integration into the cars nav-info system. Remember, Ferrari asked them to do it last year on their models. In this case, apple approached Tesla with the offer instead.

A bit mixed on the potential of this merger. It'd be nice for Tesla to have the additional resources and financial buffer of a company like Apple, but like others have pointed out, it could result in Tesla becoming more of what Apple wants and less of what Musk's initial vision entailed.

This is annoying. Tesla does not need Apple. The only reason this idea was ever even brought up is because everyone sees Apple has lost their edge. Buying a car company for window dressing?? Thats like getting married for the wedding cake.

That's a more apt description for losers who: click on articles about products they will never own, don't have anything to add to the conversation, aren't smart enough to find flaws in the products so they comment on other commenters, and will probably keep coming back over and over to cheerlead a dead status quo on a low information blog . :-P

He had no qualms about trashing Fisker for their fires: "Jason Really sad part about @fiskerauto is founder is so cavalier about spontaneous fires. If fires occurred in a garage family could die! #sad"

In case readers aren't aware, this very website was founded by Tesla's biggest fanboy, Jason Calacanis, partially funded with money from Elon Musk. Mr. Calacanis was also a substantial shareholder in Tesla with over 10k shares, which he states he has since sold. http://www.autoblog.com/2010/01/01/mahalo-ceo-jason-calacanis-giving-away-his-tesla-model-s-you-kn/

He also claimed that Fisker "stole" from Tesla, a claim that was thoroughly debunked when the Judge called Tesla's suit "baseless" and awarded Fisker compensation. https://twitter.com/PETRLOL/status/234871090856484864

Thanks for the additional info. Mr. Calacanis is a major source of the "Apple is gonna buy Tesla" rumors: "jason ‏@Jason 17m At $30-40b, apple or @google buying @TeslaMotors is a huge steal. Can you imagine of 10m 'Apple tesla cars' would have on their bottom line?" He's a major Tesla fanboy.